Since those terrorists would want to stoke public outrage with inflated numbers. Nothing from them can be believed without someone else checking the data.
I acknowledge this is a possibility,
I think the more likely horror is people stop following the numbers like it is some stock ticker, it is now an unmoored vibe.
Does anyone pay attention to the covid numbers in January 2022 when covid was roughly 25 months old? The situations are not the same but after a point people stop tracking with specifics. Likewise with the 00s with Afghanistan and Iraq where for a time people were paying attention to specific war casualties and then suddenly people stop.
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Note this is not me doing an endorsement, no it is saying this is the bad place but that is what war is.
We will know more specifics with population estimates once the war ends, but then it would be too late.